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Post by Admin on Apr 7, 2016 19:18:36 GMT
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million documents — or 2.6 terabytes of data — provided by an unnamed source to a German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, more than one year ago. They were taken from the files of Mossack Fonseca, described as the fourth-largest offshore law firm in the world. Süddeutsche Zeitung shared the data with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a nonprofit organization, along with reporters from over 100 news agencies around the world, including The Guardian, the McClatchy newspapers, Fusion and other outlets. The New York Times did not have access to the leaked documents. The articles said nearly 215,000 offshore shell companies and 14,153 clients were tied to Mossack Fonseca. They linked 143 politicians, their families and close associates — including 12 highly placed political leaders — to the use of tax havens to shield vast wealth. Among those named were President Mauricio Macri of Argentina; President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine; Mr. Gunnlaugsson, then the prime minister of Iceland; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan; King Salman of Saudi Arabia; the former emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and its former prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani; and the Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi, according to the consortium. The documents indicated that 3,500 people who owned shares in offshore companies provided the Panamanian law firm with an address in the United States, but that does not mean they are American citizens. Scanned copies of at least 200 American passports were included in the trove of documents, according to McClatchy, which said that many appeared to be retirees using offshore companies to buy real estate in Latin America. Almost 3,100 companies incorporated by the law firm were linked to what McClatchy called “offshore professionals” based in the United States. But it is not clear how many United States citizens were implicated in the schemes described by the articles. So far, the documents have connected no American politicians or other influential people to Mossack Fonseca, according to McClatchy and Fusion.
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Post by Admin on Apr 8, 2016 19:14:04 GMT
British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted Thursday that he profited from his late father's offshore investment revealed in the Panama Papers leak, according to U.K. newspapers. Four months before becoming prime minister, David Cameron sold his stake in the fund for $42,000, The Guardian reported. "I am proud of my dad and what he did, the business he established and all the rest of it," Cameron said, according to the Telegraph. "I can't bear to see his name being dragged through the mud." Cameron was dragged into the offshore tax haven scandal this week over his late father's connections to an investment fund that avoided paying tax in the United Kingdom by having its directors hold board meetings in Switzerland and the Bahamas rather than London. Downing Street then confirmed that the prime minister does not hold any shares in the company. Cameron then released another statement saying, "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime minister and I have some savings., which I get interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that's all I have."
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Post by Admin on Apr 9, 2016 19:08:31 GMT
President Putin has denied "any element of corruption" over the Panama Papers leaks, saying his opponents are trying to destabilise Russia. Mr Putin was speaking for the first time since the leak of millions of confidential documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The papers revealed a number of offshore companies owned by close associates of Mr Putin. They suggest the companies may have been used for money laundering. Mr Putin, speaking live on TV, said Russia's Western opponents "are worried by the unity and solidarity of the Russian nation... and that is why they are attempting to rock us from within, to make us more obedient". He said that because they could not find Mr Putin in the Panama papers "they've made an information product". "They've found a few of my acquaintances and friends... and scraped up something from there and stuck it together."
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Post by Admin on Apr 12, 2016 19:16:05 GMT
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce new rules to crack down on tax evasion, after he was forced to disclose unprecedented details of his private tax affairs in an effort to limit the damage of his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal. Cameron is speeding up plans to make companies criminally liable if their employees help their customers to evade tax, according to an advance copy of a speech scheduled Monday, seen by Reuters. According to Reuters, the Prime Minister is expected to say in the speech: “This government has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms, but we will go further.” Cameron will also host a global anticorruption summit next month in London and will hope to restore some credibility by bringing in the tighter rules more quickly (his government had previously committed to introducing the legislation by 2020).
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